RA#2

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                       Children, due to their innocent nature, are the most impressionable they will ever be. Anything they hear that is even remotely plausible to them will be held to the highest regard or sincerity and must be correct in every sense.  This is demonstrated in the novel Persepolis by Marjane Sterapi, in which the author is trying to convey what it was like to be coming of age during the Islamic Revolution. With this novel’s target audience being those who lack insight into the daily proceedings of the Islamic Revolution for the average citizen, especially one who is still a child. This child, Marjane, is highly impressionable with her moral compass easily persuaded by those around her.  Sterapi does an excellent job showing the manipulability of children, yet still showing that message in a way that pertains to the novel. In this scene the protagonist, Marjane, along with two other of her schoolmates were sitting around one day after school.  One of the school boys says that their classmate, Ramin, father was part of the Savak and “killed a million people”. Marjane believed this boy telling her this without a shred of doubt and suggested they achieve justice by attacking Ramin for his father’s supposed killings. Luckily Marjane’s mother intervened in time. Sterapi really conveyed the gullibility of children in the Islamic Revolution and their rashness to deal with matters the way they hear issues being dealt with in Iran at the time. Not only was this message of gullibility and impressionability shown for children in Iran, it is a message that is applicable to children everywhere.  The illustrations show the children running after Ramin with nails between their fingers very serious with what they are about to do. The look on Marjane's face is easily described as determined. The tone of this passage was serious, these children were not kidding about harming their schoolmate Ramin, and had every intent of following through with their idea of creating justice by his suffering. It is a very powerful message given. The country of Iran had become such a violent place to live in that this violence was becoming to seem casual, not longer shocking, and even worse: a completely acceptable way to deal with issues. Not only was this violence acceptable to the country it was being integrated into the children’s morals shaping them to better fit the war-like society that had fallen over Iran. This passage in Persepolis from pages 44-45 is purposefully placed in there by Sterapi to show the reader how the Islamic Revolution affected the children of Iran. It is a powerful message with great purpose cleverly weaved into the novel by the excellent writing and illustrating style of the author.

RR#2 Persepolis

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               Persepolis written by Marjane Satrapi is not only a well-written novel, but also a window of insight into the Islamic Revolution through a young girl as she matures. As the political turn oil worsens in Iran and a war arises people are forced to take sides. With the U.S embassy taken over and all Americans deported back to the United States Marjane starts to feel the enormity of what is happening, though she does in fact decided that the war is a good thing due to her fathers influential opinion. However with boys from her school being drafted into the war with promises of salvation for being martyrs, Marjane is starting to become confused as to if this war is a good thing for the country after all. This doubt is cemented later from her cousin Shahab, who visits from the front lines of the war, and tells Marjane how these young boys are being sent into mind fields leading to their gruesome death.  The war continues to get worse and many lives are lost including her uncle Taher who could not obtain a passport in time to leave the country for his life saving open-heart surgery. After flashing forward a year we see a Marjane who is much more grown up and has her own ideals that are not simply mirrored versions of her parents.  She is now a rebel, trying to dress how she wants even at the cost of her own possible arrest. Marjane is now a different girl, she has seen loved ones and friends die, and has grown to resent the laws of the government she is forced to live by. With heavy hearts her parents send her away from the country for her safety in hopes she will be able to live a much safer life in Austria.   
                 This war starting off of what was thought to be a good thing by Marjane and her family was soon proven to be a violent, dangerous nightmare for the country and those who lived there. With Marjane becoming a rebel with such powerful opinions and desire to stand up for what she believes in it was a smart decision for her parents to send her away to school in another country. There she will be able to express herself and voice her opinions without having to fear prosecution. As they send her away her mother fainted, showing that this decisions was a hard one for her parents to make, to send away their only child to another country without them. As hard as it was for them it was selfless in the way of it was the best, and safest choice for their daughter. The characters in the novel through words and pictures really are developed enough to give us an excellent understanding of their true nature. With so many events happening in such a short amount of pages the author is really able to encompass the varying social and governing states of Iran through the Islamic Revolution. Throughout the novel it is so engrossing to follow the journey of how this young girl grows up. Finding her way in life seemed to be a journey the reader embarked on with her. From the young naive girl desperate for answers, to the opinion searching young lady, and finally to the woman who knows what she deems right and wrong, it is truly a coming of age journey.

Final Draft Research Report

                   Now that you have seen two types of veils, and heard how they are being integrated into modern day America you might be wondering why are these veils so important? The veil being a symbol of modesty in Islam to Muslim women everywhere stems from their holy book the Qur’an. Within this book are the writings of Islam, which were sent from Allah, or god, to the prophet Muhammad. Most prominent monotheistic religions have a holy book, which varies in name and content but all are a collection of writings to teach the disciples of said religion how to govern their lives in a way in a way pleasing to their god. The Qur’an states,  “And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands..." (Qur'an 24:30-31).  It is taught that by covering oneself modestly you are showing respect for yourself, that you can be admired for your intellect rather than appearance. Devout followers of a religion aspire to follow the teachings given to them; this is very much so true for Muslims. However, with these holy books dating back centuries not all scripture is directly applicable to modern day life and often requires some interpretation. This is where controversy arises. The Qur’an is said to have been finished in 632 C.E, since then humanity has advanced rapidly leaving a very different world than the one the prophet lived in when writing the teachings of Allah. This leaves two distinguishable types of Muslims: traditional, and modern. Many believe that the veil should be worn at all times when in the presence of those who are not family, for example this belief is upheld by the country of Iran who have a mandatory compulsory law in place demanding all women to wear the veil. But there are those who wish to modernize their beliefs in ways that make them more suiting to their daily lives including having the choice to wear the veil or not. Whether one is modern or more traditional it is easily to agree on the message that women should be valued for more than their looks, which can be interpreted from the scripture of the Qur’an. The predominate difference between the two groups being the disagreement between mandatory wearing of the veil and whether or not that is oppressive or infringing on women’s rights. These differences in interpretation leave a constant stream of controversy that has been happening for quite some time now dating to present. With such differences in beliefs under one religion one can only hope that a middle group can be found that is both suitable to those who wish to keep the old ways and others who seek freedom within the religion they practice.  

Works Cited

"Quran." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 Sept. 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

Stacey, Ashia. "Why Muslim Women Wear the Veil." - The Religion of Islam. IslamReligion.com, 28 Sept. 2009. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

"What Allah States in The Al-Qur'an." What Allah States in The Al-Qur'an. Islamicworld.net, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

 

 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1P84ojxFuZGGqFFtffJmq9aARZRNzB-s-ca-pb_qoqr8/edit#slide=id.g196f5967e_20

RR #1 Persepolis

Persepolis is a unique book from the get go, with it's comic book format and interesting plot it can be easily seen as an easy read. The novel takes place in 1980 Iran where the main character Marjane Satrapi is a young schoolgirl in the midst of the Islamic Revolution. At the start of the novel young Marjane is quite convinced she is the next prophet, and devotes much of her time educating herself through reading historical books about past prophets, leaders and history itself. However with the greater the danger in the country and the more protests, she finds herself straying from her talks with her God as well as what she thought was her immanent fate of being a prophet.  She finds herself fascinated with the protests and asks regularly to participate in them with her parents, though the answer she always receives is no. However once, along with her maid, she sets off to go to a protest herself, which led to her punishment due to the fact it was on Black Friday. A day in which they should have not been protesting.  By paying great attention to the happenings in her country as well as bombarding her parents frequently with questions she finds out that her grandfather was in fact a prince. That news send her imagination running and off to tell her friends at school who liked to brag about who's parent or relative was more of a hero. The novelty of that fades as more important matters take over and she starts to realize the different social classes in Iran. This made her ashamed of her fathers fancy Cadillac or even that her family has a maid. Thinking of her maid brought back memories of when her maid, Mehri, fell in love with the neighbor boy and lied telling him that she was in fact Marjane's sister. Marjane helped her write letters to him since she was illiterate but when it was founded out they were both in trouble. Upon inquiring why it was so wrong that Mehri and this neighbor be together her father told her that one must stay in the social class, so being a maid Mehri must marry someone in the same class as her own. She finds herself conflicted in what to believe when school tells her one thing and her parents say another. All of these parts of society she was finding out left Marjane disgusted with certain aspects of the way things were and believed they should be changed yet still she neglected her talks with God and the fate she thought she was destined to was pushed to the back of her mind. So far this is an excellent coming of age novel, set in a ever changing environment due to the political turmoil leaving the reader engaged throughout their reading. I find myself looking forward to finishing this book and seeing what is next in the Islamic evolution as well as how the world changes through Marjane's perspective.